As I mentioned in my Sale! Sale! Sale! topic, I’m selling two Dead or Alive 4 Ayane figures. Well, I was selling them. A nice French girl bought them from us but that won’t stop me from making a review of them.
We bought them almost two years ago on the official Japanese Tecmo webshop via an online import service. Now, that webshop doesn’t exist anymore and I haven’t found out yet if they just changed it or completely stopped with it. Luckily, I ordered some products from them before they quit and this regular and exclusive Ayane were the first we ordered (let’s hear it for twin-packs!).
These Ayane’s are made by Kotobukiya and are in the annoying 1/7th scale range. Now, this wouldn’t have been such a problem weren’t it for that hideous base they put under her. Don’t get me wrong, I actually really liked these two but I think Koto made some absurd choices regarding her.
Starting from the bottom; that ugly base. Why did they ever think that such a big, weird shaped and purple base would suit this figure? And that text; “Ayane” Arranged by CH@R. Seriously? I loved the plain, clear, round base from the prototype. Why didn’t they just include that one? The shape of it is really weird as well. It’s kind of square but wider at the bottom and with cutoffs on the corners. It looks really weird and absolutely not pretty at all. And I know they can do so much better!
The base would also be less of a problem should they’ve included it separately. But no, they decided to glue her on it. If it was loose, I’d looked to make a base on my own. One which could have held both of the figures. That’s also the reason why we both the two of them. It would have been so neat to display them back to back, a little bit intertwined. So sad…
The regular version has that stupid text in plain white while the exclusive has it in some weird dirty yellow that I think should have passed for gold?
Next are the weird choices they made for these figures. Well, they’re weird to me. Maybe not to you.
First of all, the white granny panties on the regular. Note that these panties look absolutely cute on the exclusive but why did they ever choose to also put white ones on the regular? Dark blue would have suited her much better. That’s about the only weird thing on the regular. But the white or exclusive one also has some weird color choices. First of all, the ribbon/sash thingie. On one hand, I don’t mind the red color. It goes really well with the white. But on the other hand, the regular already has the red color for that… And I don’t like the red color of the butterfly on the regular while it does go well with the exclusive…
Secondly, why didn’t they made the hair ribbon also white? It’s blue with the blue version and blue with the white version. It just doesn’t look right to me but usually I do prefer esthetics over correctness. Usually, meaning not always, but definitely on this one.
The boxes are a bit weird as well. Both the figures have almost the same box with the only difference on the front being the color of the bar beneath and the text that probably says exclusive. On the back however, you see clearly that one is the regular and one the exclusive because they did display the different colors there. Why couldn’t they use the same image as well on the front so you can directly see that it’s the exclusive? Again, some weird choices.
Now on to the stuff I like about this figure, or these figures. Since they’re exactly the same in sculpting and quality, what I’m about to tell goes for both of them. Should it happen that there are some differences yet, I’ll tell you. For the record, the blue one is the regular and the white one the exclusive, just so you know.
Even though Ingis finds the sculpt too anime like, I kinda like it. I just love the face and the pose is also really pretty. A bit weird and awkward, but pretty nonetheless. The hair does look a bit crude on the close-up pictures but that’s only because of the macro-lens. As you can see on the normal viewing pictures, it really isn’t noticeable. There are some blemishes in the sculpt (like you can clearly see on the picture of butterfly on the exclusive) but nothing so severely that it catches your eye when you look at her. The paint however is superb. I haven’t found any paint smudges or anything like that (the black dots you can see on some of the pictures are from dust, not paint issues). She also doesn’t have any leaning problems but should you feel unsure you can always support her with the little transparent bar that’s included as well. If you don’t know what I mean, look at the last three pictures in the gallery.
I loved these figures when I first saw them in the proto/promo pictures. They just looked so awesome and I didn’t mind the scale. I was already looking forward to the rest of the series. The next one, Kasumi, has already been released but I don’t know if there’s an exclusive version of that one. Don’t think they made an exclusive for her…
Also I’m glad we decided to stop with this series since I absolutely hate the Kasumi one. Can’t say how much I prefer the Venus on the Beach ones that we have or the one from Mac Factory. They’re so much better then that one…
Since the exclusive one was only for sale through the Tecmo Japan online store, it’s quite rare and goes for a pretty penny on Ebay. That is, if you can find one beside the ones from Hong Kong. If you want to buy her, I highly advise against any from Hong Kong since most bootlegs originate from there.
Conclusion:
I really liked these but the base just killed it for me. Even though, I hope that my buyer loves them and gives them a good home. Since I don’t particularly like them, I can’t say I recommend them but I do hope that my review and pictures help you to make your own choice whether you want them or not.
Pictures:
Item reviewed: Dead or Alive 4: Ayane (regular and exclusive)
Type: PVC
Manufacturer: Kotobukiya
Variations: none (reviewed both the regular and the exclusive, only known variants)
Rarity: The exclusive (white variant) is almost impossible to find. Only one or two on Ebay and usually from Hong Kong or the likes. The blue one is easier to find but also getting expensive.
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